Saturday, December 29, 2012

JORDI MARANGES - CIRCO DEL AMOR



ARTISTA: Jordi Maranges
TITULO: Circo del Amor
SITIO: maranges.bandcamp.com/
SELLO: Daidalos Rec 
FORMATOS: CDR/Digital
CATALOGO: # ICARO0012

Lista de canciones:
1_ Song for Ludwig
2_ Miss Dilemas (Vals 2012)
3_ Circo De Amor
4_ Strange Affair
5_ Nostalgie # 1

Reseña original en Ingles:
http://heathenharvest.org/2012/07/03/jordi-maranges-circo-del-amor/

Jordi Maranges es ahora un elemento de fascinación para mí. Yo comparo el efecto alegre del paquete Maranges y de este Ep a la baraja del Loco en el Tarot, una cifra que no tiene miedo que pueda entorpecer su búsqueda de la felicidad. "Circo del Amor" es un Ep de canciones que saltan entre espectáculos alegres y conmovedores, hechos con fantasía y emoción sin límites. Si eres un homosexual soñador, místicamente orientado como yo, es fácil sentirse como si hubieras caído literalmente bajo el hechizo de este hombre. Sí, hay un factor Gay grande aquí, pero doble, tal como en los tonos del significado original de la palabra. Mientras estoy aquí para informar sobre su música, he de decir que el encanto real y carisma de Jordi se extienden mucho más allá de lo que se respira en su obra.

En pocas palabras, el hombre es un teatro vivo. Él es un cantante estilo crooner tanto como es vivaz, un artista natural, al igual que lo que se necesita cuando uno lleva influencia Cabaret. Es alguien que roba cada escena que actua. Lo más importante acerca de Jordi sin embargo, es el enorme potencial de estrella que lleva. De hecho, yo pensé que ya lo era a primera vista. Me encontré con su trabajo atravez de un video Concerts Privats TV Minifilms para una versión en vivo de una canción que había sido lanzada en su álbum "El baile de los cangrejos". El tema es llamado "Miss Dilemas". Este resulta ser el vehiculo de la mejor versión de este tema. La producción y dirección del video, con formato simple multi-cámara (cámaras de nivel profesional de lo parecido) es la filmación de un espectáculo íntimo en un apartamento, la suma total de razones por cual esta versión, al menos en mi opinión, es la mejor de las tres que existen, incluyendo la de este Ep. Esta versión, sin embargo, entra en un cercano segundo lugar. Estas dos versiones se sienten más leves cuando comparadas junto a la versión original, que, al parecer, fue uno de esos trabajos de sangre, sudor y lágrimas.

Hay una gran entrada conmoverdora en el blog de Jordi acerca de cómo esa canción llegó a existir. Esta página te dice cómo el Sr. Maranges compartió una relación muy significativa con una mujer con la que compartió una especie de relación maestra y estudiante, que casi se deshizo a lo largo del camino a causa de las alturas psicológicas y emocionales de los años que compartían. Incuye cómo los temas de la magia y lo sobrenatural inspiraron la letra de la canción, que tambien nace de su propia experienciencia con un espíritu que Jordi dice que lo ha visto crecer, y siempre viene cuando él llama. La canción es una de las cosas más romanticas que he llegado a conocer. Es una canción que ha sanado las heridas emocionales de Jordi, compuesta después de un largo periodo de separación de dicha señorita Dilemas. Logra catarsis con dulzura, con un aire de las intenciones más positivas para seguir adelante, para cristalizar la belleza inicial de esa amistad.

En el resto del Ep, se encuentran dos pistas en Inglés. Tengo que sacar de mi pecho que éstas no tienen el mismo efecto, el mismo brillo natural de un Español cantando en Español, que es dramático y seductor, y sobre todo, enfático. Me di cuenta de que su voz es  similar a la de Beto Cuevas del éxitoso grupo comercial de Rock en tu Idioma La Ley debido a estos temas en otro idioma. Ambos cantan en los mismos tres idiomas, Español, Inglés, así como un poco de Francés, pero aparte de que opine que la voz de Maranges es mejor, al igual que con Cuevas, las pistas en las que se canta la melodía en Inglés no me atraen tanto. Son buenas canciones musicalmente hablando, pero el brillo real está en las de idioma nativo, como la canción Pop que da título al Ep, decadente, super-queer, parecida algo a los Smiths versus Sugarcubes. Es un tema muy divertido, alegre. La otra cara de la Orquesta Dandy, su banda, cierra el álbum con el tema mas cabaretero de los cinco, el más lento, que contiene la letra "Antes de nacer fui un explorador de galaxias infinitas". La letra no carga tema que uno espera de la canción con sabor más clásico en terminos musicales, pero el hombre se da toda libertad para contar el más imaginativo de cuentos. Y lo hace a efecto fantástico.

Esta es una obra de inmensa alegría. Quizás de las cosa más brillantes que jamás he escrito. Inspirador, es intoxicante de maneras inesperadas. Puedo ver el iconoclasta en Jordi. Espero que muchos más pronto también lo harán.





Friday, July 20, 2012

NICHOLAS CHACON - EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER



ARTIST: Nicholas Chacon
TITLE: Everything Comes Together
ARTIST LINK: http://nicholaschacon.bandcamp.com/
ARTIST COUNTRY: USA
LABEL: Self-Released
GENRE: Rock/Alternative/Psychedelic

Tracklist-
1 24/7 Open/Closed Minds
2 Gifts From The Mystics
3 Stars...
4 Betsy Carlson
5 It's Not The End ( I Love )


Meeting this youngster last year was one of that year's highlights. The night was cold as hell, the small warehouse space that was available at the time to my small circle of friends was still freshly theirs. Many things had been regaled to me about Nic before we met, and many of those things we happily share, the love of mysticism and Eastern Religions, Psychedelia, La Mari... He's a young man who has really been making the most and the rounds here in LA since he was transplanted from some 'burb I forget where. Fuck it, it doesn't matter, because in my opinion, this is the place for him. Almost as soon as he made it out here, he hit every bar, gig, and showcase he could get billed on [as well as those he instigates himself], and though I have not seen any of these, only the one from that Winter night, it was a very memorable scene.

"Everything Comes Together" is the group of songs I saw Nicholas play for the first time. After a very riveting and inflamed performance by his good buddy Gus Franco, Nic came on with a much more different approach. Mr. Chacon calls this a "Spiritual EP". Glad he does, too, because amidst getting caught up in his melodic, sincere, and sparkling performance of material, I remember telling our friend Dove something stupid like "You can see his aura". I guess I was probly looking at it. I saw something and I'm sticking to it. But the fact of the matter is, these songs, a set of garage rock tracks that show Psychedelic influence, and early Smashing Pumpkins, very Gish-like in some parts, actually, these songs are humbly self-recorded, and are best experienced live. No Question.

Though the feel of this EP is that of a very decent demo, I would be very pleased to see this re-recorded, recorded live, AND have a nice photo shoot to go with it, bundled up and be spread out like a cloud of toke to our polluted winds. Tracks of note for me are definitely "Stars..." and "It's Not The End ( I Love )", as these have an almost Interpol feel to them. These stood out to me that freezing night in the Valley and they still do. Nic has been composing like crazy since then, and has three other sets posted up on his bandcamp site at press time that everyone can tune in to... Some very negative circumstances led Nicholas to Los Angeles, but damned if I'm not happy he's here. He's in it for the right reasons, a truly musically-driven soul. This filthy town needs more of these crazy semi-jaded hippie-types.

Friday, June 15, 2012

JILL AVILEZ AND THE LOVE ABSURD - LIMITED POSSIBILITIES EP



ARTIST: Jill Avilez And The Love Absurd
TITLE: Limited Possibilities
ARTIST LINK: http://loveabsurd.com/
ARTIST COUNTRY: USA
LABEL: Self-Released
GENRE: Funk

Tracklist-
1 Loves No Good
2 Like I Do pt. 2
3 Bam Bom
4 Unlucky day

Before I get into the exhilarating nature of this band's music, I'd like to tell you all about the young lady that fronts the outfit. I first met Mizz Avilez last year through a mutual friend. I was having a sleep over, and Natalie told me a friend of hers was dropping by to say hi. Nat stepped outside for what seemed like forever, and when they finally came in, I greeted a girl with a tender, very pacific disposition. We got to smokin, and our attention was alternating between each other and "On Beams of Light", an episode I threw on of The Wonders of The Universe with Brian Cox [my generation's Carl Sagan]. Little did I know that she was all about Space, in love with Cosmology and Life. Something very joyous aligned that night… Time came shortly that she would have to go, and as she did, she said something I have never heard anyone say to supplant the word "goodbye": Good Vibes. I tell you, if I wasn't a fruitcake, I would have fallen in love with her just with that. It was the way she said it, in a very genuine manor, from the core of her being.

This first impression was among the best I've ever known. The very same happened when a few months later when I heard the entire band in action through soundcloud. This was a radically different vibe though, bursting with a zealous groove and a very striking reminiscence of a time when the intricacies of Jazz, Soul, & Rock came through as one, when a different beast known as Funk first made people shake they ass. I often wish I could have been there, or THEN, but this band came as more than just a throwback. It IS Funk, the Funk of today. Forget going back to a time of greasy, "powdered noses" and B.O., because in the comfort of our 21st century collapse, there exists The Love Absurd, and these gentlemen along with Jill have been something of a revelation to me. Listening to the way this project exudes a very purist approach, very apt in their modern application of a style going on four decades old confirmed to me that time is near meaningless when people have the talent, skill, but most importantly, the very genre in their hearts. They are the reason this blog exists, because they are a powerful reminder that beneath the oppressive, heavy hand of the corporate music industry, true music is indeed all around us. This is to be celebrated.

I remember listening to "Loves No Good" for the first time, and the only difference between this track and ones from the Seventies is most likely the use of digital means somewhere in the pristine mastering/production of the tunes. Like it matters. These guys are the real deal. There is a harmony in this band that I am sorry to say I have seldom heard around here in Southern Cali, but that only makes them worth while that much more. No one is left out, every sound has its place, much like all things are so intricately fitted into this glorious Universe that Jill is such a big fan of. Her sultry voice is indeed comparable to that of Ella Fitzgerald, and along such vibrant horns, super sexy bass work, shimmering synths, tight percussion, and guitar work that feels as much a part of the rhythm section as the section itself, I found something that makes me wanna throw on a white suit and dance like a goddamn fool. "Like I Do pt. 2" is one of the best in the free bunch of four, having a Roxy Music vibe that few can capture and shouldn't even try.

"Bam Bom" is an example of how the band is not stuck in one time or place, as it is something like Oingo Boingo, Ska-ish, having a mean guitar work with a Classic Rock feel to it that eventually joins up with the synthesizer for a fantastic twin-attack solo, a pairing I've never experienced. At press time, the four tracks listed here are available for free listens and downloads on Loveabsurd.com and on soundlcould at both soundcloud.com/jill-avilez and on soundcloud.com/williamborza. They are part of the upcoming "Infinite Possibilities" full-length album. It promises to be intense, very much looking forward to it. The effort has the hand of Doublehook Records producer William Borza in it, and from how things are sounding, this might be among the top accomplishments for all parties involved. That said, I want to thank each and every one who has made these tunes possible. You all have brought a smile to my face and a hope for tomorrow where music is concerned. And they are all lookers by the way… Can't wait to catch them live with all their sexy up in my face.
Good Vibes and Fair Winds...